Should the Crocodile Cafe have sidewalk seating?

Earlier today, Aubrey Cohen reported that the newly reopened Crocodile Cafe has applied to obtain a sidewalk café permit, presumably to set up seating outside its walls at Second Avenue and Bell Street.

The usually glowing neon in the Crocodile Cafe remained dark after the Seattle institution on Second Avenue closed in December 2007. (P-I photo/ Joshua Trujillo)

According to the process, residents have until April 8 to submit official public comment on the application to the City of Seattle.

They’re already at it online.

Wrote one reader:

So pedestrians lose more sidewalk space for private enterprise’s aggrandizement? I’m all for alfresco dining but in some areas it is hard to get by on the sidewalk and damn near impossible for wheelchair bound people to get buy without going into the street.

Devoted Seattle pedestrians have long taken issue with sidewalk cafes.

“You find yourself having to weave all the time,” Tom Williams told Seattle P-I reporter Kery Murakami for a story about the concerns in October.

Sidewalk seating is nice on a sunny day and a staple of the European urban aesthetic. Other bars and restaurants on Second Avenue, like Shorty’s and La Vita E Bella, already have it. Should sidewalk seats come to the Croc?